Pinky Promise: story of a love lock on Eiserner Steg Bridge, Frankfurt

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Quick question: Why don't we have love-locks bearing purposes instead?

Imagine walking and reading purposes on such a Bridge!

It was my first trip abroad in 2018, and I was truly excited to see the world outside India - a childhood dream. I spared some time off work to Google a few places to visit near our booked hotel while preparing for the visit. We were to stay in Frankfurt for a day, and the rest of the meetings were planned in another EU country. Such little time to explore, i thought while googling. I came across a bridge on river Main via Google, which was bearing love-locks! 

Wow! was my first reaction, followed by this dialogue in my head: but then I don't have any boyfriend to write names in order to place a lock. What a tragedy! I really want to make the day memorable, and just the idea of placing a lock is just so interesting, right? So, whom do I care about the most? My family. Yes, but I express my love for them all the time, and I don't need a reminder in the form of a lock. It has to be bigger than that. Children! I truly care for them. Aha! I am going to place a lock symbolizing a promise. A reminder for me to keep doing good for their better future. Done. Sorted. But what if I don't get a lock there or a pen? 

Do-not-worry-Vidhika -- buy a lock here and write on it before taking off. So when you get there, you just have to place it. Simple! 

Feeling excited, I went to stationery the next day and got the fanciest lock I could find. When I reached the Bridge, I saw some children holding their parent's hands while walking over the bridge. I felt elated while placing the lock as if I had visited Frankfurt for this only purpose :D. Technically speaking it was just one day in Frankfurt and I felt that i lived the entire day with profound happiness, probably the first time in my life. It melted away my fatigue from work and long-distance travel. 

So, Just think for a moment. Rather Imagine! 

IMAGINE!! walking on a bridge where people have placed their purposes instead. Bridge of Purpose! wouldn't that be inspiring and far more interesting? Imagine reading a purpose, and it awakens a purpose within you too or joining a purpose already out there. Please do try! I dearly hope you do. :)

This lock bearing the promise for Children made me re-discover my wish. A wish I had expressed in my earliest post (An Encounter with a Charismatic Slum Girl) on this blog! Talk about serendipity! :) 

The Story doesn't end here. A year later while remembering this promise, i created a facebook page called, Pinky Promise to bring attention to the efforts of children across the world voicing and taking action for climate change. It was overwhelming to find so many children from every nook and corner of the world raising a collective voice for their future. To my surprise i got ~80 followers without asking people personally to follow. Most of them have little children of their own. Unfortunately, i decided during the pandemic to quit social media which obviously made the page disappear. Regardless, I felt amazing to have made a tiny contribution to raise climate change awareness, especially in India. I am more than happy to re-share a few source links which i highlighted on my Facebook page:

Ryan's recycling company: https://edition.cnn.com/2017/03/09/us/recycling-boy-trnd/index.html

Autumn Peltier and many more: https://www.fastcompany.com/90409156/if-greta-thunberg-inspires-you-youll-love-these-5-teen-climate-activists-too

Haaziq Kazi tackling ocean plastic: https://plasticoceans.org/the-remarkable-story-of-student-haaziq-kazi/

Sagarika Sriram: https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/young-girl-united-arab-emirates-adamant-about-creating-sustainable

Millions of children striking for climate change: https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/49766020

Clearly, the Children of Earth are united and share a common vision to save planet Earth. Beautiful!! isn't it?

p.s. I wrote something on the back of the lock too. So if you are curious enough, do look for it and find out yourself ;). Hopefully, the ink survived. haha!